"We need to help businesses to act, so it is important that business supervision is based on working with businesses and helping them, rather than punishing them. Continuous evaluation of supervisors' performance, training and mentoring of supervisors' staff are some of the measures that lead to effective supervision that meets high standards, improves the business environment and reduces the burden of supervision on businesses. However, there are still areas where we need to improve supervision in order to give businesses every opportunity to grow," said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
According to the survey, 54% of businesses rated the performance of the supervisory authorities in 2023 as very good or good. Last year, medium-sized enterprises were the most frequently inspected (52%). Comparing the share of inspections by the length of time a business has been in operation, the likelihood of being inspected increases with the length of operation. Businesses operating for less than 1 year, known as new entrants, were the least likely to be inspected.
"We see that the authorities have improved their performance in recent years by finding effective ways of providing information and expanding their advisory tools. We also see where more efforts should be made - businesses should be informed about inspections in advance, and it is important to use questionnaires so that businesses can prepare for inspections," said Ieva Valeškaitė, Deputy Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
In 2023, 89% of inspections were planned, 8% were unplanned and 3% required authorisation. 88.9% of authorities give advance notice of an inspection. 70% of inspections were carried out by questionnaire. However, 41.4% of companies reported that inspections included additional checks for compliance with other requirements not covered by the questionnaire. This created difficulties for businesses as they could not adequately prepare for the inspection and manage the risks arising from the consequences of the inspection.
In 2023, 34.5% of inspections found non-compliance with legal requirements. In 96% of cases, the inspectorate informed the business of the breach, the sanctions imposed and how the breach could be rectified. Regarding the level of awareness among enterprises of the supervisory measures implemented and applied, almost half of the enterprises (48.2%) had to contact a supervisory authority for advice on legislation, licensing requirements or other services.
75.1% of enterprises received clear and comprehensive answers to their questions. Large enterprises (29.4% did not receive a clear answer) and enterprises operating for less than 1 year (35.4%) reported receiving the lowest quality of advice.
Businesses also made suggestions for improving the work of the regulators: they said that the information should be clearer, in simpler language and accompanied by an explanation of the guidelines. It was also suggested that the information should be systematised in one place, tailored to the specific cases of enterprises and regularly updated on the website. Business representatives expressed the expectation that regulators would help them to improve their practices, rather than inspecting to punish.
In order to improve business supervision, the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation organises annual initiatives to this end, with more than 2,200 professionals from more than 40 supervisory authorities being trained in consultancy, the basics of the business supervision system or risk assessment in the period 2023-2024. Inspection performance is also assessed through the Supervisory Inspection Survey Instrument (SISI), which is used by 19 authorities. In addition, advice is provided, methodological material is produced and a Supervisory Performance Assessment Scoreboard is published to assess the quality of supervisory performance.
The Ministry has also supported the formation of an association of supervisors. The members of this association share best practices and knowledge and seek innovative and efficient solutions for supervision.
